Hideki Tojo
|birth = |death = |cause of death = |occupation = Soldier, Politician |spouse = Katsuko Ito |children = Seven |political party = |military branch = Imperial Japanese Army ( ) |political office= of Japan}}, Foreign Minister, Minister of War }} Hideki Tojo (December 30, 1884 – December 23, 1948) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, serving from 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944. He also served as Minister of War, a position he initially took in 1940, and continued to hold concurrently as PM. Through his term as PM, he also took on other cabinet positions, such as Education Minister, and continued to implement totalitarian policies in Japan. During his time as War Minister, Tojo expanded the war with China, which was about three years old at that time. He rose to the PM position through the support of the IJA, which was pressing for war with the United States. He authorized Japan's war against the West, including the attack on the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, though planning for the war had begun before he took office. While Tojo was initially very popular, but after Japan's defeat at the Battle of Midway, Tojo saw increasing opposition at home. He was forced to resign in July 1944 after the fall of Saipan. He retired to his home in Setagaya. After Japan surrendered in August 1945, Tojo was arrested for war crimes. He attempted suicide by shooting himself, but the wound was not immediately fatal, and after a lengthy operation, Tojo recovered and stood trial, along with several other alleged criminals. The trial commenced in 1946. The defense began presenting its case in January 1947, and took 225 days. The subsequent judgment issued by the court took another six months. Tojo was found guilty, and sentenced to death. He was hanged in 1948. Hideki Tojo in Worldwar Hideki Tojo was the prime minister of Japan during the aborted World War II and the invasion of Earth by the Race's Conquest Fleet. Under his administration, hundreds of thousands of Chinese, Filipino and Korean civilians and Allied prisoners of war were abused, enslaved, tortured, starved, raped, and subjected to brutal medical experimentation. Prisoners from the Race's Conquest Fleet were treated similarly and were often forcibly addicted to ginger to make them more tractable.See, In the Balance, generally. Tojo survived the Race's explosive-metal bomb attack on Tokyo and lived to see Fleetlord Atvar call for a peace conference at Cairo in 1944. Japan was invited, and Tojo sent Shigenori Tojo to represent him.We learn in Aftershocks that Tojo is still alive in 1965. Pg. 301. Tojo was still prime minister in 1965 at the age of eighty-one. He attended the funeral of the American President Earl Warren in Little Rock, Arkansas.Aftershocks Pg. 301 (pb), 240 (hc) Hideki Tojo in "News From the Front" As Prime Minister of Japan, Hideki Tojo gave the go ahead for the December, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into World War II. In 1942, the Honolulu Advertiser wrote that the "fats cats" in Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, who believed they had a monopoly on the truth, were worse enemies of freedom than Hitler and Tojo put together.Atlantis and Other Places, p. 112. Hideki Tojo in Days of Infamy Hideki Tojo gave his blessing to the invasion of Hawaii in December 1941, despite his misgivings as an army general.Days of Infamy, pg. 22. Hideki Tojo in The War That Came Early Hideki Tojo became Prime Minister of Japan in the closing days of 1940 as relations between Japan and the United States deteriorated, until war came in January 1941.Coup d'Etat, pg. 184, HC. Somewhat speculative, as we first learn Tojo is PM in 1941, well after the Pacific War is under way. During his term, Japan was able to fight not only the U.S., but Britain, France, and Dutch forces in the Pacific, making substantial territorial gains very quickly.See, ibid., generally. Hideki Tojo in Joe Steele Hideki Tojo (1884-1946) was Prime Minister of Japan before and during World War II. |cause of death = }} }} In June 1941, the U.S. imposed an embargo of oil and scrap metal on Japan in an attempt to halt Japan's war in China.Joe Steele, pg. 234. In response, Tojo took some steps to prevent war with the United States, sending Foreign Minister Saburō Kurusu to personally meet with President Joe Steele.Ibid., pg. 243. The meeting did not achieve an agreement, and Japan attacked the U.S. in December 1941. While Japan was able to maintain momentum initially after the war started, things began turning against her in short order. By 1945, Japan had been driven almost entirely from its territorial holdings in the Pacific Ocean, and the United States had initiated the invasion of Kyushu, the southernmost Home Island, in November 1945.Ibid., pg. 307. Tojo and his government did not surrender.Ibid., pg. 315. This led to the invasion of Honshu in March 1946. Tojo personally led the effort to repel to the landings, and was killed in battle.Ibid., pg. 322. His death was a heavy blow to the already low morale of the people of Japan,Ibid., pg. 412. but it still required the death of Emperor Hirohito to force Japan's surrender.Ibid., pg. 322-324. As Japan was divided up between the U.S.-backed South Japan and the Soviet-backed North Japan after its final surrender, Tojo was the last prime minister of a unified Japan. References Category:Foreign Ministers of Japan Category:Generals Category:Ministers of War Category:POWs of World War II Category:War Criminals